Steve Kerr says Draymond Green ‘may have to adjust’

Updated 4:15 pm, Friday, December 2, 2016

Long before he received a flagrant-1 foul in the Warriors’ double-overtime loss to Houston on Thursday night, Draymond Green was flailing his leg to draw fouls.

“Draymond’s been doing this since college,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Friday. “I never saw him play in high school, but maybe he’s been doing this since high school.”

After Green’s leg extensions became a major story line in the 2016 playoffs, referees are wary of the tactic. Midway through the second overtime Thursday, after Green kicked James Harden in the face coming down on a putback attempt, the Golden State forward was assessed a flagrant-1.

It was the turning point in the Warriors’ first loss since Nov. 4. Now, after reviewing video of the incident, Kerr figures it might be time for Green to make a change.

“It’s a reactionary thing trying to draw a foul,” Kerr said. “Players are always going to try to trick the refs. You try to show them you’re getting fouled. Draymond’s happens to be flailing the leg. There are other guys who happen to do it, too. But because it’s being focused on, Draymond may have to adjust if he can.”

During his postgame news conference Thursday, Green said the officials “are going to do what they want to do regardless. It doesn’t make no difference one way or another.” Then he took to Twitter. In one tweet, he simply wrote, “Marked.” In two others, Green posted pictures of the Pistons’ “Bad Boys” teams of the 1990s.

Kerr responds to Barkley: Charles Barkley has developed a reputation as one of the Warriors’ harshest critics. During Thursday’s pregame show for TNT, he called Golden State’s style of play “girly basketball” and said, “I don’t want it in the NBA.”

James Harden (13) is guarded by Draymond Green (23) and Andre Iguodala (9) during the first half as the Golden State Warriors played the Houston Rockets at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, December 1, 2016. less

James Harden (13) is guarded by Draymond Green (23) and Andre Iguodala (9) during the first half as the Golden State Warriors played the Houston Rockets at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, December ... more

“It’s getting to the point where I feel like, if the whole team walked in front of Charles’ house, he would just yell, ‘Get off my lawn!’” Kerr said Friday. “That’s how I feel about it.”

Video study: Before holding a light practice, the Warriors spent Friday morning reviewing video of the loss to Houston. Kerr’s message for his players was simple: Relying on made shots is no recipe for long-term success in the NBA.

“We’re going to have games where we miss shots, but we’ve got to take care of the details,” Kerr said. “We watched a lot of tape on those details, and we know we’ve got to get better with it.”

In reviewing the video, Kerr also noticed areas he could improve.

“We needed to get into better sets offensively down the stretch,” he said. “I could’ve called better sets, gotten into more motion.”

November to remember: Kerr was named Western Conference Coach of the Month for games played in October and November after guiding the Warriors to a league-best 16-2 record. The Warriors paced the NBA in scoring (117.6 points per game), assists (31.1), field-goal percentage (50.2) and point differential (plus-12.7).